NHL

The NHL’s Winter Classic is not about showcasing hockey’s speed and skill. The goal is to remind everyone—in the dead of winter—that hockey is the winter sport par excellence. And yesterday the annual New Year’s Day outdoor game did exactly that. With 105,491 fans at Michigan’s famous “Big House”—braving snow and a game time temperature […]

They say that in hockey, a goal is a goal is a goal (even if the puck sneaks into the net smuggled in a goalie’s pants). But New Jersey Devils forward Travis Zajac managed to score a goal that was pretty undignified, even by hockey standards, when a slap shot sent the puck bouncing off […]

Pop quiz, hotshot: You’re an NHL referee, and you see an airborne puck fly into a goalie’s pants. What do you do? What do you do? The answer is actually quite simple: You keep your eyes on those pants. If they cross the goal line, the goal is counted. It might seem like something from […]

Unless you happen to be a huge fan of the SHL—the Swedish Hockey League—you probably have no idea who Linus Klasen is. The 27-year-old forward from Stockholm has spent just one season playing pro hockey in North America, and of his 51 total games, only four were with the Nashville Predators in the NHL. The […]

Lucky for Minnesota Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom, most major sports networks across North America have already performed the final edits to their blooper reels for their “2013 Year in Review” shows. As for those who haven’t, they may want to consider finding some space for Chris Kreider‘s third period goal during the New York Rangers’ […]

The Philadelphia Flyers and captain Claude Giroux had a pretty crappy start to the 2013-14 NHL season. Through the first 15 games Giroux didn’t score a single goal, and the team went a miserable 4-11. Hell, coach Peter Laviolette got fired after just three games. However, in the 16th game of the season, a 4-2 […]

Whoever is inside the Minnesota Wild mascot deserves a raise. Last night the red hot Vancouver Canucks were in Minnesota to take on the Wild, and Nordy, who is some sort of unspecified wild animal, was prepared. You know the “Green Men,” right? The guys that sit by the glass at Canucks playoff games and […]

The NFL gets amazing footage no one could ever have dreamed of with those Skycams that hover over the playing field. Likewise, the various auto racing circuits get some pretty incredible shots from cameras mounted on top of cars—especially when there’s a wreck. And, of course, MLB and the NBA…okay, so they don’t really have […]

Another day, another idiot NHL player hitting somebody into the board from behind. This time it’s rookie Tom Wilson, 19, of the Washington Capitals. And in all likelihood, he will soon be the next player to receive a multi-game suspension from the league. On Tuesday night in Philadelphia, with the score tied 2-2 and just […]

Only a Canadian would ever say, “gee, I wonder if I could play hockey in a helicopter?” And only a Canadian would ever say, “oh man, that’s an awesome idea. I’ll help!” One morning in early December, somewhere in the Canadian Rockies, helicopter pilot Bradley Friesen woke up and decided it would be fun to […]

This week we’ve told you about a couple of amazingly charitable pro athletes who are making a huge difference in their communities. First it was Houston Texans receiver Andre Johnson, who bought $17,000 worth of toys for some needy kids—like he does every year. Then it was Memphis Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph, who received an […]

I never thought about it before, but the tradition of throwing your hat onto the ice after a player on the team you’re rooting for scores three goals in a hockey game is kind of outmoded, since people don’t really wear hats all that often anymore. But one woman at Thursday night’s game between the […]

Between the legs—that’s where all the cool kids are going in the NHL these days. First, of course, it was the Sharks’ 19-year-old Tomas Hertl, who announced his entry in the NHL with a four-goal performance against the Rangers on October 8 that was capped by a ridiculous between-the-legs top shelf breakaway goal. Then it was […]

In Russia, it’s basically illegal to be gay because they’re afraid you’re going to corrupt the youth. But if a hockey team wants to hire some strippers to work the ticket booth? No, that’s totally fine. Please proceed. And no, I’m not talking hypothetically here. Just recently, Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL decided to drum […]

At Saturday’s NHL match-up between the Washington Capitals and the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Caps’ Mikhail Grabovski faced off against his old teammates in Toronto, and suffered a pretty nasty injury in the process. It happened when Maple Leafs forward David Clarkson‘s skate accidentally hit Grabovski in the face after a failed dive. The hit […]